Trent Atkinson is an Australian-born actor, writer and director.

Early life

The youngest of four children, Trent grew up in the town of Kingscliff on the far north coast of NSW. After appearances in shows such as ''

Paradise Beach ''Paradise Beach'' is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow Pictures. It was made in association with America's Genesis Entertainment which later merged with New World Television for the Nine Network, and aired between 1993 ...

'' as a teenager, he moved to Sydney immediately after graduating high school to pursue his performing career.

Training

Told he was too young for NIDA as a 17-year-old, Trent began studying with the

Australian Theatre for Young People Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is a not-for-profit national youth theatre company located in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1964 by Eleanor Witcombe. History The first committee was formed in 1964 and ...

. In 1996 he received their annual

Lend Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

scholarship which took him to New York to study acting at the

Atlantic Theatre Company Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their acti ...

where he trained under instructors including

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...

William H. Macy William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those i ...

and

Felicity Huffman Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress. Huffman began her acting career in theatre, and in the 1990s also had many supporting roles in film and television. She starred as Dana Whitaker in the comedy-drama '' Spor ...

Acting

After being seen in a performance at ''ATYP'', Trent was cast as the titular lead in '' Storm Boy'' in a national tour by

Bell Shakespeare Company Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries and other classics. It is based in Sydney. The Bell Shakespeare vision is to create theatre that allows audiences of all wal ...

. This was followed by being chosen for the lead role of ''Dud'' in the feature film ''Terra Nova'', which won awards at

Edinburgh Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

and

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Interna ...

. The next ten years would see him take a number of film, television and stage roles, including starring in '' Water Rats'', '' All Saints'', ''Out in the Open'', ''Lower Depths'' at the

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

, and ''PAN'' at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney among others. In Australia he is perhaps best known for playing

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

schoolboy Mikey Dunn in the Australian soap opera ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a tr ...

''. While continuing to perform in film and television, his work as an actor became secondary to what was becoming a full-time writing career.

Writing

A self-taught screenwriter, Trent sold his first attempt at feature film writing to a British Production Company, Midsummer Films. At around this time, Trent also began writing for television, parlaying his acting work on "Home and Away" into writing for the show. His extensive television credits include ''Home and Away'', ''Headland'' and '' All Saints''. 2009 saw him pen the award winning "Chocolate Face" and "Cat & Mouse", both of which he directed. In 2012, Trent was brought in as lead writer on A Place to Call Home and would go on to write six of the first thirteen episodes.

Select filmography

* " A Place to Call Home" (2012) * "Veneer" (2011) * ''Off The Beat'' (2010) * ''Dream The Life'' (2009) * ''

'' (2002, 2003, 2017–Present) * '' Garage Days'' (2002) * '' Backberner'' (2002) * '' Water Rats'' (2001) * ''Terra Nova'' (1999)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Trent Living people 1978 births Australian male soap opera actors